Many devices have been heretofore contemplated for providing buoyant support to a watercraft. Devices of a broadly similar nature to those contemplated herein generally comprise elongated members which may be of the rigid, foam filled type, or which are inflated, and which are secured along the length thereof to the outside of the hull of the watercraft above the waterline.
A disadvantage of such devices is that in order to provide the requisite support for a foundered watercraft, they must be relatively large, and generally speaking they will have a diameter at least as large as that of a fender normally employed on a watercraft of a size on which such buoyant device is used. Accordingly, buoyant devices that are permanently inflated must be structured not only to perform the desired function of providing buoyancy in an emergency, but also to withstand use as fenders if they are to be durable. Moreover, both permanently inflated and foam filled buoyant support devices tend to drag in the water when the watercraft is under way, particularly where the watercraft has a low freeboard, or where heeled in the wind, thereby adversely affecting the performance of the watercraft.
Where the buoyant support device is permanently inflated or foam filled, it does not provide any visual indication that an emergency condition may exist, and other signalling means must be employed for this purpose.